


Winter's Warmth

by SilverNight88



Category: Invaders (Marvel), Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Namor the Sub-Mariner (Comics), Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: (mentioned) jim hammond, (mentioned) steve rogers - Freeform, (mentioned) thomas toro raymond, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Anger, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Blow Jobs, Drug Use, Fights, Fluff and Smut, Ghosts, Hurt/Comfort, I just needed an excuse to write bucky and namor in that one comic, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Light Angst, M/M, Memories of the Past, Rough Sex, Roughness, Unrequited Love, you all know the one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-08-05 02:47:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16359245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverNight88/pseuds/SilverNight88
Summary: Bucky Barnes meets up with an old friend. Namor isn't the easiest guy to talk to, but Bucky hungers for a familiar face in the future he has awoken to even if that is the arrogant sea prince.The years of being the Winter Solider have left him empty and cold. Things take a sharp turn when the two meet and Bucky doesn't know what this means for his own future but in the moment he doesn't care for anything but finding something warm in the long cold night.





	1. Winter's Warmth

[Set just after the events in the comic Winter Solider: Winter Kills (2007)]

 

 

**Winter’s Warmth**

 

The sting of the cold air made his nose hurt, Bucky rubs the tip with his gloved hand trying to get some warmth back into it. He would never be used to the winter, the cold and the snow, his breath fogs the air around him as he adjusts the scarf around his neck and waits. He remembers wearing double socks back in the war because his toes would go numb. Placing his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket he hears boots crunching in the snow then an arrogant familiar voice.

“You’re late.”

Crisp words cut the air, coming from behind him and he turns to face him; Namor the Sub-Mariner, Prince of the Seas and a huge pain in the ass. Bucky remembered him so clearly now that he wondered how he had ever forgotten, how had the winter solider forgotten the arrogance that dripped in his every word, forgotten the regal bearing of a man so powerful he could crush tanks.

“I know. I got held up. Sorry.”

He turned to face Namor; Bucky’s eyes took him in, the cool green eyes, the straight line of his lips, the sharp nose, ears, and Namor’s even sharper eyebrows. His hair was darker now, Bucky remembered the reddish tint Namor had back in the 40’s, but now it looked as black as the ink Steve used to use when he would sketch late at night in their tent back in during their down time in the war.

Namor was talking, and Bucky felt his own response forming on his lips, his smile genuine as a hand was reaching out to him,

“Then I’m not unhappy you are not dead.”

Bucky rolled his eyes, Namor hadn’t changed a bit, at least not his mannerisms, this was a relief, Bucky almost wanted to hug him. So much had changed, so much was different, gone were those hazy days of war, where the only thing he could think about was holding his breath as he waited for Nazi patrols to pass by his hiding spot, before jumping out to catch them unawares, gone were the easy laughs with Toro, the boy who had been his closest friend, gone was Steve and Jim and all the rest. Bucky felt a lump in his throat making it hard to swallow, he asked how it happened, _how had Toro died?_ Namor looks a bit surprised that Bucky would want to know,

“It is not a short story”

The former Winter Solider sat down, “Namor, seriously… I’ve got _nowhere_ else to be.”

*****

Bucky kept his gaze on the craved headstone, eyes tracing over every letter, his heart twisting with each sentence Namor spoke, to his credit Namor was a good storyteller, leaving no detail out but delivering it as if it had happened to someone else, someone who _wasn’t_ Toro, anyone hearing him would have thought Namor barely knew the boy. When he got to the part where Toro died Bucky thought he was prepared for it… but it hit him like a sledgehammer to the gut, taking the air out of his lungs and leaving a gasping struggling thing. He silently took in a breath while remaining calm on the outside. Bucky didn’t move from his crouched position on the snow, he didn’t look up at the towering Atlantean. He kept his eyes on the letters; they looked so deeply gouged in the stone that he wondered if he had clawed them in himself. He noticed the silence, when Namor had stopped speaking the cold winter wind blew harder and he adjusted his scarf again to protect his neck against it, back in the war Toro would make a fire to keep him warm, _“Can’t let my bestest buddy freeze before we get rid of all the ratzis”,_ Toro’s warm smile had made him grin too but he wasn’t here now.

Bucky once again heard the crunching of snow under Namor’s boots, the man had never worn them back then, yet another thing that had changed, he was walking away from the grave. Bucky didn’t know how long he had been silent but it felt like it had stretched on forever, he finally ripped his eyes off the stone and looked in the direction where Namor was slowly walking though the rest of the grave yard towards the woods. His silhouette was highlighted by the half moon that shone down on the snow covered graves. The light made the feathers of the wings that protruded from his ankles shine whiter, and Bucky whispered to the grave, “Good bye buddy”, before getting up and working the stiffness out of his legs. Where could he go now? There was no where he wanted to be, no where that would take his mind off the memories of the past that seemed to surround him this night more than any before.

He stood a few moments more before following the footprints in the snow.

Slowing to a stop on the other side of the trees, there was a small park there, empty of even the homeless who littered the benches, the quiet playground looked lonely, ivory snow glittered off the slide, the swings creaked with the movement of the wind. _He felt so damn cold._ Namor wasn’t there but there was an Atlantean aircraft, not just any aircraft but Namor’s royal flagship, the same one Namor had used to transport the Invaders during the war, the very one that the Prince had used to teach Bucky how to fly. Bucky felt the nostalgia creep up on him simply from looking at it. From the shiny bronze of the hull, to the metal fins, it had always looked like a strange fish. Bucky hesitated a moment, _maybe Namor was leaving_ , going home to Atlantis, after all he had told Bucky everything he needed… his boots made a loud noise on the metal ramp.

Inside he found himself caught in a memory, everything looked the same… _smelled_ the same, he could almost see the image of Steve, laughing with Jim as they sat on one of the benches that lined the side of the hull with a rag in his hand, making sure his shield shone. _It’s a symbol Bucky, and symbols need to shine._ Bucky almost tripped over the ghost of Toro, lying on his belly, as he read the latest magazine rag. Barnes saw himself sitting the co-pilots chair pressing buttons with an eagerness to learn, he missed that, the excitement of his youth had been taken so long ago.

Namor, the real one, not the one of years past who stood over his younger self pointing at the controls, was sitting in the pilots chair, his face in shadow as one hand held his head, fingers on his temple. He was so fucking still it was as if he had been carved from stone to forever sit in that chair staring blindly out the window. Bucky pressed a button on the wall panel next to him and the ramp whooshed closed, he could hear the hum of the invisible shields fall back into place as he made his way to the front of the air ship being careful not to step into the spot where he had seen Toro’s lying, legs kicking as it turned another page, he _knew_ Toro wasn’t there, that he was dead but his mind was trying to make sense of things, making images appear so he would feel comfortable, he was anything but comfortable, he felt like he frozen, numb to the world.

“Did you need transportation Barnes?”

Namor’s voice is so fucking cold; as if they hadn’t spent the last few hours standing over their dead friend’s grave. As if **nothing** was wrong, _why did they all have to die?_ Where was the fairness in that? That the best of them were **_gone_** meanwhile he and Namor were still here. Murderers got to live but the pure hearted were cut down every time. Bucky wished he could take Toro’s place… he would have given anything, even his life, to have Toro and Steve back, his friends alive and happy. It was a fair trade…

He remembered watching Namor fly, watching him tear through metal with his super strength, oh how Bucky had felt inferior to the rest of the Invaders. He had been a normal human kid among a super man, a super solider, and two flame wielding heroes. Bucky felt such an ugly _jealousy_ , such a deep _envy_ that he had to hide it behind the domino mask and his sarcastic cheer. He recalled how he had egged Namor on, never letting the Prince get too uppity, after all, he figured, they were only three years apart, that didn’t mean Namor got to get away with treating him like a kid.

Now hearing the Atlantean’s causal tone made something inside him snap. Barnes spun the chair around and leaned his angry face into the Prince’s, and he growled at him, “ **You should have- you should have done something, anything, you should have saved him… but you didn’t, he’s gone and so are all the rest!** ”

 “ _What_ would you have had me do? I did what I could-”

“Shut up.”

Before Namor could respond to that Bucky spoke in bitter resentful tone.

 

“I guess it’s just you and me now Subby.”

Namor’s expression was slightly surprised at the venom in Bucky’s voice but now he narrowed his eyes, “ **Don’t** call me-“

“What _Subby_?” Bucky’s voice is taunting, hot, “What will you do if I don’t stop **_Subby_**?”

Namor clenched his fists and his lips peeled back from his teeth, _there he was_ , Bucky thought with satisfaction _, there was the old angry Namor_ that he knew. The Prince who thought he could solve every problem with his fists, who raged against the entire world. He wondered what would Namor do, would he push Bucky back? Punch him in the face? Yell? Most likely Namor would throw him off the ship.

Bucky was only glad it was still on the ground, yet would never know Namor’s reaction because something inside seized Bucky and he pushed his face into Namor’s, his lips on the Atlantean’s teeth, kissing them, his hands no longer on the armrests but clutching Namor’s vest.

Namor to his credit did stay shocked for longer, he pulled back a bit his bright green eyes glittering as he looked at Bucky, right before he punched him in the face. Bucky went flying back, his head hit the metal floor with a sick thud, his vision was covered in blinding white that slowly focused on the pair of winged boots that got up from the chair and walked slowly towards him. Namor crouched down, and there was a sharp tugging on his dark brown hair. Namor pulled his head up to be level with his face, Bucky winced at that pain, from both his left cheek, the back of his skull and his and hair.

“Call me Subby one more time James and I-”

“ ** _Subby_**.”

Bucky spat, his teeth bared before he used his metal hand to pull Namor down and pushed his face into Namor’s again and this time he got the Prince’s lips, they were cold, hard, as if made from marble but Bucky didn’t let him go this time. He pushed for more, sticking out his tongue and licking Namor’s closed lips urging him to open. Instead Namor pulled back and stared at Bucky, who in the meantime couldn’t tear his gaze away. The Prince must have seen something in Bucky’s dark brown eyes, some desperate thing in them because an instant later he was kissing Bucky. His lips pressed against Barnes’s, opening and allowing the winter solider to slip his tongue inside.

James didn’t want to let this kiss stop, he couldn’t explain it, some dark hunger, born of his old teenage frustrations, of the loss he was experiencing, of the earth shattering longing he felt swelling up inside him. Namor moved so that he was on his knees, pulling Bucky up to do the same, then Bucky felt hands on him removing his jacket. Namor unzipped it, the sound was so fucking loud as he felt the jacket loosen on his chest and he finally understood what he needed. He helped pull off the jacket, it slipped to the floor in a whisper of leather, he felt the scarf tighten around his neck for a moment before it too was ripped away. He was moving back, separating just enough to pull the long sleeved shirt up over his chest, dropping it to the side and keeping his face blank as he leaned to the side about to move one foot to unlace his boot.

“Leave them,” Namor commanded and Bucky felt a shiver run down his spine. Now half naked, he felt his erection bulge against the front of his jeans under Namor’s intense gaze. _God, what am I doing? Sleeping with the Sub-Mariner?_ The man who slept with almost every person Bucky had seen, women threw themselves at Namor, men too, how many times had he seen Namor flirting during their down time? The awkward feeling when he caught him and Jim alone?

Now he was sucking on Namor’s lips as though it could make it him forget that things were all fucked up, that the future he had always thought he would have would never happen. This was stupid, but in that moment Bucky didn’t give a shit, after all no one could ever accuse him of making the smart choice.

The next few minutes are heavy with the sound of breathing and kissing, he pulls Namor’s vest off, so that their bare chests could rub against each other turning his head so Namor could have better access, his teeth grazed Bucky’s neck, only interrupted by the soft kisses he gave. He moans soft and opens his eyes, that was a mistake.

Toro’s ghost looked up at him from his spot on the floor, the dark haired head cocked to the side, a small sad smile on his face, _‘Hey Buck? I didn’t know you liked boys. Too bad… maybe I would have given you a kiss that last Christmas…”_

Namor touched the front of his jeans and Bucky yelped, he threw a punch without hesitation, hitting Namor in the eye with his metal fist. The Prince flew back, and Bucky saw the moment that instinct took over the royal as he rushed up and shoved Bucky back so hard he heard the sharp smack of his skull on the metal floor.

Atlantean curses, Bucky can pick out a few learned from the old days, after all what was the fun in riling Namor up if he couldn’t understand him? Namor seethes but he does not move forward.

Barnes didn’t move as he stared at the ghost of a boy he never got to tell just how much he loved him. Toro’s smile used to be as bright as his flames, now there was fire it began to cover Toro’s body, slowly enveloping him and Bucky could almost feel their heat, _he was so fucking cold,_ then Toro’s human face was slowly disappearing, until the flames were all that there was. That also slowly began to dim in the dark hull of the airship, as if someone was slowly putting the flame out, growing gradually more and more faded. Bucky felt tears prick the corners of his eyes as he watched his best friend disappear.

“I… ”

W _hat? He was sorry?_ _For stripping and inviting Namor to fuck him only to panic and punch the living daylights out of him?_

He was lucky Namor was so damn resilient or the man would be dead from his goddamn arm, he hated it, it was a remainder of what he used to be, a solider without conscience, a man who was powerless.

“Namor I-”

“You owe me no explanation Barnes.”

The Prince’s voice was cold, hard, Bucky shivers. He doesn’t listen, just says what’s been bottled up in him for god knows how long.

“I – I… should have. It _should_ have been **me** in the ground, Toro, he didn’t _deserve_ that.”

He choked out, his throat tight. Bucky looks up to see Namor studying him, a bruise starting to form under the Sub-Mariner’s right eye.

Lifting himself off the ground Bucky feels... tired, tired of thinking, tired of wanting…

“I want you to fuck me. **Fuck** me so hard that I can’t think, I can’t think right now, if I do…”

His words trailed off as his eyes went back to the place where he had seen the image of Toro. He was gone not even a wisp of flame left. Now Bucky screams and his fist went through the metal bench that lined the wall next to him. Bucky felt a cool hand on his shoulder and looked up, pushing the dark brown hair out of his face with his normal hand. Namor took his hand off Bucky’s shoulder and green eyes held his as Namor’s hands moved downwards and then unbuckled Bucky’s belt, it joined the small pile of clothes that Bucky had left on the ground.

Namor was slower at taking off the rest of his clothes as if he was going slow on purpose, to not spook him, Bucky didn’t move, until he knelt there fully naked, then Namor finally turned his attention to his own clothes and freed himself from his pants, now standing naked right next to him, his cock bobbed in the air, so close to Bucky’s face that the solider moved without thinking and wrapped one hand around Namor’s cock, _his_ hand, not the metal one that _they_ gave him, he wanted to touch flesh, to feel, he opened his mouth and took the cock between his lips.

Setting his jaw so that his teeth didn’t scrape along the skin, Namor’s dick was long, it felt large in his mouth, and Bucky found he could only get almost to the base before the tip of the Sub-Mariner’s cock hit the back of his throat, he pulled back letting his tongue slide along the underside. Tasting the salt of his skin, Namor was cold, just like his lips, just like his hand, and all Bucky wanted was warmth, _he wanted heat_. Bucky began to move his mouth back down, taking in the cock once again, then he felt hands running though his hair and Namor groan began to grow, low at first at until he was cursing in Atlantean, moving faster now, taking him in deeper now until Namor was soon bucking his hips, and Bucky could taste the precum on the tip, he released the prince and moved downwards, his lips running over the man’s balls, the soft skin against his lips made him realize that Namor had no hair anywhere. Namor yelped when Bucky nipped him and then growled and Namor was pulling him up, a kiss, harder than before, Namor’s tongue invaded his mouth, slippery and wet, he moved his hands around Namor’s waist, the man had a body that others would kill for, Bucky was built stockier than Namor, who was taller and leaner than him. His body honed from swimming all his life.

Bucky gave as good as he got, his tongue running along the inside of Namor’s mouth, the feeling of smooth cheek skin and a rougher tongue made Bucky want to press Namor against the wall and devour him. Namor had other plans, he pushed Bucky down, down on all fours, his metal hand made a clanking noise, he was facing the front of the airship, glad that it was cloaked so no one passing by could get a glimpse of him. He bit his bottom lip as he felt Namor move behind him, he didn’t show any reaction when Namor touched his ass, he didn’t move when Namor’s finger ran up his crack until it located his asshole, parting his cheeks Namor leaned in and began to lick it, his wet tongue running over the entrance as he prepared Barnes. He felt Namor spit, his saliva providing some lubricant but Bucky knew it would be still be rough, he kept two hands braced on the floor.

He felt a single finger slowly running over his rim, fingering, until it pressed inwards and slowly entered him, he wondered what would Toro say now, what would the others would say, to see him kneeling there so passively as Namor finger fucked him, driving in and out until he could fit another finger in then a third. There was a withdrawal then one more long lick and Bucky soon felt the large cock pressing into his ass, he finally lets out a sound now, a long harsh groan as his body adjusts to the dick filling him as the Sub-Mariner didn’t stop until his cock was fully sheathed inside Bucky.

_“James.”_

His name on Namor’s lips sounded wrong, and so fucking right, how long had he fantasized about this? As a younger man he would hungrily watch Namor’s bare body on display. Now Namor was saying his name in such a soft tone that Bucky’s defenses flared up and he replied in a snarky tone.

“Don’t look into this too much Namor, just consider this a onetime thing.”

He felt had had to say that to the man who was currently fucking him, hips driving back and forth as his cock throbbed in him.

“I assure you Barnes, _I won’t_.”

“You really know how to make a man feel special huh Subby?”

Namor bucked hard and Bucky threw back his head, a shout ringing out as the dick inside him hit his prostrate.

“”I warned you **not** to call me that..”

“ _Subby_.”

Namor did it again and the feeling of pain so sweet it became pleasure made Bucky pant he felt his own cock throbbing.

“ **SUBBY**!”

Namor let loose, his hips driving back and forth in a punishing pace, his cock slipping in and out of Bucky’s asshole. It was all the man could do to not thrash his head, he bit his tongue to keep from begging the Prince to never stop, wave after wave of pleasure swept Bucky away until he couldn’t think. He pushes back in time with Namor’s thrusts to get the full force of it. His breathing intensifies and his metal fingers dig into the floor leaving five indentations.

“You are such a **_slut_** James, look at how you push back on my cock… I don’t even need to move since you’re practically doing all the work..”

“You’re a fucking bastard Namor.”

He doesn’t care that Namor is calling him a slut, he likes it, he just doesn’t want Namor to know how much he likes it.

“Oh, did you want me to whisper how good it feels to have my cock inside you James? Did you wish for me to tell you how I have thought about this before? Thought of your lips around me, sucking, as I fucked your throat?” He chuckles as his fingers grip Bucky’s waist, nails digging into his skin, “How sentimental you surfacers are Barnes. As if I don’t know you wish it was Toro here.”

Bucky growled, “Watch it Namor, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t I?” He mocked in a soft voice, “Uugggh,” the sound of his grunts punctuated his words as he drove deeper, rougher, “Tell me Barnes, what I do and do not know. Go on, educate me on the ways of love and lust. AHHhh.”

Namor’s smug condescending voice rubbed him the wrong way even as the prince’s cock was driving Bucky into a state of rapture, then he felt Namor hit his prostate harder than any time before, he howled, “YOU FUCKER.”

Namor smirks, “Yes I am.”

“You god damned fucker, you don’t know everything Namor, you’ve always acted so fucking smug. You aren’t much older than me you know.”

His teeth clanked shut as Namor pounded into him, his own cock bobbing, he can’t take anymore, keeping his metal hand on the floor of the ship he uses his other to wrap around his shaft and begin to stroke, at the first touch he closes his eyes. It makes Namor’s words sound louder.

“You’re a brat Barnes, always were one, if you had the courage to live up to that back during the war then I would have been fucking you for years… oh well, better late than never, isn’t that what you surfacers are always saying?”

“One day I’m gonna have you on your knees Namor, and then with my cock in your mouth I can finally get you to **shut up**.”

Low laughter makes his belly heat and Bucky masturbates desperately only to feel his hand being stopped as Namor wraps his hand over Bucky’s. The soldier’s back is now pressed against a muscled chest and the thrusts are shorter but no less forceful.

Namor’s lips press to the back of his neck and Bucky whimpers with need, “Na- Namor..”

“ _Shhh_ now James, it will be over soon.”

Bucky nods his head as Namor doesn’t stop, does nothing to give him a chance to regroup, and Barnes’s emotions are a raging flame of want, and need. Cock throbbing in Namor’s grip as the Prince expertly played with him, reaching down to massage his balls before moving back up to jerk him off.

The thrusts came in time with the hand job and Bucky could do nothing but try to keep his body from sinking into the floor. His mind was filled with white noises only broken by the harsh sounds of grunts, the wet sound of skin slapping on skin, and the feel of cold kisses on his skin.

“Are you always this cold?”

Bucky’s voice was scratchy from his earlier screaming.

“Yes.”

“Don’t stop…”

“I won’t.”

Namor’s words reassure him and he finally lets go of his thoughts, his body now thrashing as he rode the waves of pleasure, there is a tightness in his belly as he feels his orgasm swell until finally his cock releasing his cum, dripping all over Namor’s hand.

He feels boneless, soft, and tired, so fucking tired, he wants to sleep, still Namor’s thighs brush against the backs of his as he continues to fuck him. A few more hard thrusts and Namor lets out another curse as he give one last thrust, holding it, the warm heat of cum fills him and Barnes sinks to the floor. Namor pulls out and sits next to him, staring off at something unseen and Bucky wonders if he sees Jim. He curls up into a ball, arms wrap around his knees and gives his back to Namor. A soft touch on his back, it runs down his spine and over his hip bone, before Namor removes his hand. The sifting of the Sub-Mariner’s body signals he has gotten up and moved to a cabinet and opens it but Bucky can’t bring himself to look at what he is doing.

Something soft and warm and white covers him, a pelt, fur, his human hand touches it. Polar Bear, he thinks, and pulls the fur blanket up to his cheek rubbing it against his chin, it smells like Namor. He mutters a small ‘thanks’ and settles under it, his lids heavy, Namor slips under the blanket behind him, shifting Bucky who doesn’t protest, so that he can wrap himself around the Winter Solider. Bucky’s body heat begins to warm them both, the fur tapping it so that it doesn’t escape. There is a silence that falls upon them, the heat of the moment had passed and after a while where Bucky wonders if Namor had fallen asleep, Namor shifts to throw his leg over Bucky’s, pressing himself closer, his wings brush Bucky’s ankle and he smiles.

A muffled sound of laughter comes from outside the ship, a small group of teenagers passing in the night, calling out to each other; one of them dares the other to run up the playground slide. A loud thud a few moments later tells him that the teen failed to get to the top; they linger there and then move on. Bucky Barnes finally drifts off to sleep when he hears Namor’s deep snore.

Winter had never felt so warm as it did that night under a polar bear pelt and wrapped in the arms of lonely man. The night continues, cold, dark, and the white snow falls soft.

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Illum

** Illum  **

 

Bucky sets the bomb, it will destroy all the evidence of this drug bust that they don’t need. It isn’t what Fury asked for but Bucky doesn’t care and he wasn’t leaving things half finished. He knew Namor could handle anyone who came into his oceans but Bucky thought a few explosions to show that they meant business could only make things easier for the monarch.

Besides an explosion was nothing, and he had done far worse than taking out a drug ring. Namor is not behind him anymore when Bucky is done dealing with the smugglers. This wasn’t the first time they had seen each other since that night in the airship, but those meetings had been brief and he never spoke to the Atlantean Prince about it. Namor seemed content to not bring it up but there were times when Bucky would feel his green eyes boring into him and he wondered if Namor was also thinking about that night where they had fucked each other’s brains out in a desperate mesh of bodies. Sex had gone on long into the night and Bucky had silently dressed and left the man sleeping on the deck of the airship.

So when Namor bragged about his four girlfriends, _let not forget Brenda is his primary,_ Bucky didn’t ask him what number he was on Namor’s list. Jealously was sick, it made him feel angry, and why should he? _It was just a fuck_. Instead he joked with Namor and thanked him for aiding Bucky in this task. Namor was a power house and not using him to stop these men would be folly. Now he looks around the water is dark here, his mask makes everything underwater look blurry, Bucky wants to go back to the small submarine that he used to travel down to meet with Namor. He swims out of the ship that the smuggler had used to find Namor as he is swimming slowly away, a pink glowing tube floated in the water behind him and Bucky spies more in Namor’s hands, _the Illum_. What was it he had said? _Illum makes one at peace_ , he had seen Namor take one back in the lab but had not thought about what it would do to him. He swam after him, in the other direction of where his sub was. The information Fury sent him to retrieve was on a small storage disk and it fit inside the special pocket in his scuba suit.

“Namor!”

His voice is muffled but Namor was suited to these environments and he should’ve had no problem hearing him. He yelled but Namor kept swimming at a wavering pace, slower than his usual speed but still far too fast for Bucky to catch up with. He gritted his teeth and pushed himself, he had to push more because the metal one was heavier than his normal arm and it dragged his body down.

Finally he saw Namor stop and was threading water he caught up to him a few moments later to find that he was cracking open another tube of Illum and swallowing it, it was so strange to see people eat underwater, he watched Namor’s Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed the pill. His eyes opened and the green of them seemed strange, they were reflective like a nocturnal animals, he knew that was because of Namor’s biology. All Atlantean’s had a protective clear eyelid that covered their eyes when swimming, but he couldn’t help but feel a shiver down his spine, he had to get back to his sub. He swam while holding onto a passive Namor by the hand, kicking his legs and trying hard to just focus on reaching the sub and not think about his dwindling air supply.

He presses the button to open the door, water rushing into the hatch and sweeping them in as well, hitting another button it seals the door and the water slowly drains. SHIELD sure knew how to make sub-marines, he hits the side of his mask and it whooshes back, sucking in a deep breath of stale air he groans as he sits up. Pressing one more button on the wall the door to the main part of the tiny vehicle opens. It’s just large enough for two chairs that piloted the craft and a small open space behind it. The back of the sub had a small bathroom and shelves that contained stocked food and supplies. Bucky leaves Namor lying on the floor to get up, the dive suit he wore made it hard to navigate, but he pulls it off and takes out Fury’s prize, stowing it away he reaches for a bag of medical supplies. His own clothes under the suit are body tight and black.

“Namor?”

He crouches next to the man and pulls one eye lid open; the eyes seem dilated and not focused. Namor grinned at him stupidly he touches the ends of Bucky’s mid-length hair, it’s still wet from the sea water and he sits up on his forearms, his body is still on the floor, as he brushes the side of Bucky’s cheek.

“Barnes.” His voice is soft and weirdly pitched.

“Yeah… yeah it’s me Subby.”

“Told you… not to call me that.”

“Yeah you did.”

Pulling Namor up to move him into the main room but Namor sways shaking his head as the drug hits him a new, the latest dose finally releasing itself into his body.

_Something wrong. He’s high._

Bucky sets the medical pack down. Namor giggled as he tried to tear off Bucky’s clothes the man was talking English but the words were sluggish and thick.

 “Barnes you are in water, you don’t need this anymore.”

“Namor,” He tries to say patiently but the Prince wasn’t listening.

“Let me touch you again, feel you around me, your mouth on mine…”

He holds Namor’s hands and breathes hard through his nose, he wants to, he can’t forget the last time they had, _it consumed him_.

“How long till this wears off?”

Namor cocks his head as though he didn’t understand the question. He replies in Atlantean. Bucky lets Namor’s hands fall and curses. He needs to get back, finish his mission. Namor was just going to have to come along for the ride and then if he sobered up before they got back he could swim off. Leaving the man on the floor he goes to the pilots chair and begins pressing buttons and flipping switches.

*****

Namor lies on the floor of the sub staring up at the ceiling, the drugs make him feel relaxed, sluggish, and warm inside. It’s been too long since he had taken any and so he was unprepared for the effects. He feels as though he is floating, though he knows he is not, his body feels light. He thinks back to old times, back when he was happier, funny how happy he used to be in the war, with the Invaders.

_“Here water rat. Seems like you need a hand.” Jim’s smile is like the sun._

Namor feels the pinprick of tears in his eyes, they run down the side of his head as he smiles and reaches up to grab a hand that wasn’t there. An illusion, his mind replaying memories as the Illum moves slowly through his veins. It is a cruel trick that his mind plays on him, crueler than letting being near Bucky who seems to have no more care for him than using him for a single night.

_That night._

He remembers it clearly, he often thinks back on it, the warmth of James’s body against his own, then waking to find him gone.  Now he cannot breathe he is suffocating and for a man who could breathe in air and in water it is a strange feeling.

“Namor.” James voice calls out to him but he doesn’t acknowledge it.

He turns onto his side, his legs curling up into his chest as he tries to hold himself, _“You left me just like all the others, and when you came back. I thought I would have someone by my side once more but you were gone like the wind on the sea.”_ The Prince’s words are in Atlantean and he wishes he hadn’t taken the second dose so soon, now both were hitting him with force. He feels clam, relaxed and it terrifies him, because he feels vulnerable.

“NAMOR!”

WHACK

The feel of a hand slapping his face stings he focuses on James, and sees the Winter Solider had left his seat and was raising his hand once more, it descends in slow motion, and Namor grabs it out of the air. His own hand tightens around Barnes’s wrist, knuckles white as he remembers that this is his only good hand, his human hand. He pulls Bucky until the man is close to him and kisses him.

Bucky sucks a breath as he pulls back, “Dammit Namor. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

The sounds hit his ears like a drum he is pulling the material from James’s body, tearing it. He needs connection, to feel to touch, so long he has gone without touch; the people who sleep in his bed are cold. Bucky’s skin is cold from the water, he can feel the gooseflesh under his finger tips as Namor’s mouth attaches to James nipple, and he licks it with his tongue.

He feels a strong arm pull him away, Bucky’s face looks sad as he looks at him, he didn’t want that, he wanted the cheeky little shit who called him names and fought with him. Bucky sits down and pulls Namor so that the Prince’s head is on his lap, he brushes back wet hair with his normal hand and he talks.

*****

Namor was not himself that was for sure, but seeing how desperate Namor was for Bucky made him feel something inside, pity maybe, or just a sense of kinship. He knew what it was like to be left alone with his memories. He doesn’t want to dull this with flesh. Having set the sub-marine on auto pilot it cruises towards his destination and he just pets the Atlantean, trying to give him some comfort that he desperately wished he had when things where rough.

“You know Namor our meeting… it wasn’t the first time since the War. We meet before but maybe you didn’t remember… I certainly didn’t.”

He touches the tip of one of Namor’s ears and it flicks in irritation, he continues softly, gently, “It was a flophouse… in New York city. I can’t even remember the year.” He chuckles, “Imagine, worrying about what year it was, I just knew that I was there and so were you, but I didn’t know. You had a beard, homeless and alone just like me. War… it chewed us up and spit us out, like broken toys. I remembered staring at you over the long tables where we sat and ate the food that was donated to us. You looked so familiar, I was surprised when you looked at me once, but you turned away. I thought for sure that I knew you but my own thoughts… they weren’t reliable. It took years to piece it together, to remember that I had left a mission and wandered the country. Funny huh, we were both in the same place and just passed each other… like ships in the night, not knowing the other was there.”

Namor is quiet now, and even though he had ruined Bucky’s shirt the soldier didn’t mind. He leans his head back to let it rest against the cool metal of the interior.

“I think I remember… you always wore a coat. You wore gloves.” Namor mutters in a low tone.

“Yeah. Yeah, to hide my hand, my arm.”

Namor is silent again and Bucky looks down when he feels an arm snake around his waist. Namor has his face pressed into his belly, arm clutching him tight. Bucky sighs and leans his head back to lay against the metal wall. This thing that was between them Bucky didn’t know where it’s leading, but he had a job to do and it could take him far away from the oceans and Namor for god knew how long.

“You gonna just sleep? Maybe your four girlfriends tired you out and you can’t handle me.”

Namor gives him a growl as he lifts his head, “You don’t want me.”

“No and you don’t want me either, not really, but we got some time, and I’m off on a mission, think of it as my last night on shore leave… except at sea.”

He holds his breath as Namor sits up, he still looks wobbly, like he could tip over again but Bucky doesn’t reach out for him even as Namor closes the gap and kisses him. It’s different from before, not that harsh hard press of lips. It’s soft and slow and his lips feel abnormally warm, must be a side effect from the drugs. Bucky returns it. As the sub keeps moving towards its destination Bucky enjoys another night in the Sub-Mariner’s arms. Whatever his mission will bring Bucky decides not to look too hard into this. Just another night and later they each move on, to whatever life has waiting for them.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was expanding on Winter Soldier (2014) #1 and the scene Bucky talks about with him and Namor being in the same flophouse did happen in Captain America (2004) #11. I wanted to do something where they found a kind of understanding/closure with each other. I might add more chapters in the future but for now I wanted to leave this kinda open in case I come back with something.

**Author's Note:**

> I have two more chapters for this story that I will be uploading as soon as they are done. In the meantime Comments and Kudos are always appreciated!


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